Quanum Clerkin'
by David Smith
Summary: Sam Beckett leaps into Quick Stop employee, Dante Hicks.


The feeling swept around Dr. Sam Beckett once again. He was leaping. He closed his eyes to shield them from the blue lights. He opened them up once more to find himself in a funeral parlor. It was a wake. A loud crashing sound immediately filled the silence. He looked over to see a young, 20-ish man in wearing a backwards baseball cap. He'd somehow knocked over the casket. The mourners suddenly started chasing him and the other man.  
"Oh boy..." Sam said as he ran.  
  
Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett lead an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project know as Quantum Leap. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator....and vanished. He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia, and facing mirror images that were not his own. Contact with his own time was maintained through brainwave transmissions with Al, the project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear. Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett keeps leaping from life to life, trying to change history, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping...each time...that the next leap....  
....will be the leap home."   
  
Sam followed the other man to a car. He stood there waiting for him to open the door.  
"Uh, you gonna' get in or not?" the other man asked.  
"Oh, right..." Sam said reluctantly. "Do you think you could drive?" he asked. He'd rarely had to drive during leaping, and his mind was too swiss cheesed to allow him to remeber how.  
"Sure," the other man said. They both got into the car quickly and started to drive. "So, you wouldn't let me borrow the car last night, but now you will to let us get away?"  
"Um, yeah," Sam replied. "So, what was the deal with tipping over the casket there?" Sam asked, thinking that he'd leaped into the latter part of two kids who just did stuff like... well, tipping over caskets.  
"I told you, it wasn't me fault," he said. "I was just leaning on it."  
"Well, why would you lean on a casket?" Sam asked.  
"For lack of anything else to lean on," the man casually replied. With a beep, Al appeared in the backseat.  
"Maybe we should pull over," the hologram said. Sam was the only one who could see or hear him, so he couldn't talk or the other man might think he was crazy.  
"Hey, I've gotta' use the bathroom," Sam said.  
"So, just use it at the Quick Stop," the man replied.  
"Um... alright..." Sam replied. They pulled up to the Quick Stop, which was a convenience store located right next to the RST Video. They both got out. Sam walked up to the Quick Stop, while the other man walked into the video store.  
"Uh... it's locked," Sam said.  
"Yeah, so fucking open it," the other man said. Sam reached in his pocket and found a key. He opened the door and went into the bathroom. There was an old man already inside.  
"Oh, sorry..." Sam said as he rushed away. The old man didn't seem at all shocked though... Al appeared in the hallway.  
"There's no one else in here, Sam," Al explained. "You've leaped into Dante Hicks, a clerk at the Quick Stop in Leonardo, New Jersey."  
"Why am I here?" Sam asked.  
"Well, in the original history, Dante decided he wanted to get back together with his old flame, Caitlin Bree rather than his current girlfriend, Veronica," Al explained. "There's a 98% chance that you're here to make sure he doesn't."  
"Sounds easy enough," Sam said.  
"Yeah, but this town is weird," Al said. "At some point in history, a lot of people die after these two fallen angels try to get back into Heaven... but that's not for another couple of years."  
"Who's the other guy I was with?" Sam asked.  
"That's Randal," Al said. "He works at the video store next to you. We don't have much information on him..." Almost on cue, Randal walks in. "But maybe you can get some," Al said as he disappeared.  
"Hey, can I use your car again?" Randal asked.  
"Why?" Sam asked.  
"I need to rent a movie," Randal said.  
"But don't you work at a movie store?" Sam asked.  
"Yeah, but it's a shitty video store," Randal explained. "I want to go to a good video store so I can rent a good movie."  
"Makes sense," Sam said.  
"It does?" Randal asked, shocked. "Are you okay, today?"  
"Yeah," Sam said tossing Randal his keys. "Have fun." Randal walked away as if his friend was a complete stranger. As he walked out, a customer came in.  
"Are you open?" he asked.  
"Yeah," Sam said. The customer noticed a cat on the counter.  
"Cute cat, what's it's name?" the customer asked.  
"Uh... it's not mine," Sam replied.  
"Oh," he said. "Pack of cigarettes." Sam sold him the cigarettes as another customer came in.  
"Are you open?" he asked.  
"Yeah, why does everyone wonder if we're open?" Sam asked.  
"The shutters aren't up," he said. Sam tried opening them, but found that they couldn't be opened.  
"Oh well," Sam said. "We're open."  
"Pack of cigarettes," the man said. Sam got another pack. The customer looked at a tabloid. "'Man from the future leaps into bodies from the past!' Where do they come up with this shit?"  
"I'm not sure," Sam said.  
  
Meanwhile, in the future, Dante Hicks slowly started to wake up. He looked at his surroundings. Everything was blue, except the floor which was a clean white. Al walked in.  
"Where am I?" Dante asked.  
"You're in the future," Al said.  
"Oh shit," Dante said. "Did I die or something?"  
"No," Al replied. "You're part of a government plan to make your life better."  
"I didn't sign up for any fucking government plan," Dante told him. "I wasn't even supposed to work today!"  
"Do you have any idea how we could help you in your time?" Al asked.  
"Hell no," Dante said. "My life's pretty good. Well, except for..." Dante went on.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the Quick Stop, Sam is trying to tell a fitness trainer that he's not out of shape.  
"I don't see any fat on this body," Sam said.  
"No tone either," the trainer said. "You need more exercise." A woman walked in.  
"Are you open?" she asked.  
"Yeah," said Sam. The woman grabbed a paper and put it on the counter. "Thirty-five," he said.  
"Let me ask you a question: do you think this guy is out of shape?" the trainer asked the woman.  
"I can't really tell from her," she said.  
"He is," he said. Al appeared behind the counter with Sam.  
"You should see this guy," Al said. "He's got so many problems... if you have to fix all of them, you could be stuck in this guy for a year or more!"  
"Really?" Sam asked.  
"Yeah," the trainer said.  
"Listen, I could take you down right here," Sam said.  
"Oh, really?" he asked.  
"Sam, I don't think this is a good idea," Al said.  
"Why not?" Sam asked.  
"Bring it on!" the trainer exclaimed.  
"It didn't happen in the original history," Al said worriedly. Sam threw a punch at the trainer.  
"Oh, so that's how you want it?" he asked, throwing a punch right back. Sam & the trainer got into a huge brawl knocking over things in the store. A suited man walked in.  
"Hey, just what the hell is going on here?" the man asked.  
"Uh... the customer said that he thought I should fight him, and you know, the customer's always right..." Sam explained.  
"How long have you been here?" the man asked.  
"Since six o' clock, Sam," Al told him.  
"Since six o' clock," Sam repeated.  
"Can I have your name please?" the man asked.  
"Dante Hickle," Sam said. The suited man wrote it down.  
"It's Dante Hicks, Sam," Al corrected him.  
"Um, I mean, Dante Hicks," Sam said.  
"Don't try giving me a false name," the man said. "Dante Hickle it is." The man gave Sam a piece of paper.  
"Five hundred bucks?" Sam asked. "For what?"  
"For violation of New Jersey Statute Section Two A, number one-seventy slash fifty-one: Any person who sells or makes available tobacco or tobacco-related products to persons under the age of eighteen is regarded as disorderly," he explained.  
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.  
"According to the NJAC-the New Jersey Administrative Code, section eighteen, five, slash twelve point five-a fine of no less thantwo hundred and fifty dollars is to be leveled against any person reported selling cigarettes to a minor," he explained yet again.  
"I didn't do that!" Sam exclaimed.  
"No you didn't, but Randal did," Al explained.  
"You don't understand, it was my friend," Sam said.  
"Someone else from the store?" the man asked.  
"No, he doesn't work at the store, he just sold them," Sam said.  
"Oh, this isn't good, Sam," Al said. "Now, Randal goes to jail, and when he gets out, he's so mad at Dante, that he kills him."  
"Where is your friend right now?" the man asked.  
"He's renting a video," Sam said. "He should be back soon."  
"He's at RST Video?" the man asked.  
"No, he said it was a crappy store," Sam said. "He went over to Big Choice Video."  
"Thank you, sir," the man said as he exited.  
"You ratted out your best friend?" the trainer asked.  
"That's low," said the woman.  
"Can I offer you a ride somwhere?" the trainer asked.  
"How about the beach?" the woman said.  
"I like the way you think," said the trainer, as they left. A woman walks in.  
"We're open," said Sam.  
"I know," said the woman. Al pushed a button on Ziggy.  
"Uh oh, Sam, that's Caitlin," he said.  
"I just saw Alyssa's little sister outside," she said. "She was with Rick Derris."  
A customer walked up to the counter. "Pack of cigarettes," he said. "Hey, congratulations," he told Caitlin. "She's marrying an Asian design major," he told Sam.  
"Oh," Sam said. The customer left.  
"I'm not really marrying him," she said. "He proposed to me, and I said I had to think about things, but he made me wear the ring. Now, my mom's telling everyone I'm getting married."  
"Ah," Sam said.  
"Sam, you can't get together with her," Al reminded him.  
"Um, maybe you should get married," Sam said. "Is he such a bad guy?"  
"I don't love him," she said. "I love you. What smells like show polish?"  
"I was wondering that too," said Sam. He looked at his fingers to see dried shoe polish on them. "Weird."  
"Do you want to go out tonight?" she asked.  
"Uh..." Sam started.  
"Oh, shit, you're mind is merging with Dante's..." Al said.  
"Sure," Sam said.  
"Alright," she said. "But I've got to go home first. See you later." She left the Quick Stop.  
"Sam!" Al exclaimed.  
"I'm sorry," Sam said. "I don't know what happened."  
"Well, I'll try and figure out another way of getting you out of this," Al said as he disappeared.  
  
Al walked into the Waiting Room, where Dante was still sitting.  
"Can I please go home soon?" he asked.  
"We're working on it," said Al. "Our guy kind of screwed up in your body."  
"In my body?" Dante asked. "What the fuck is this whole thing?"  
"Okay... we have a guy named Dr. Sam Beckett who is leaping through history, fixing things that went wrong. He leaped into your body, and he's trying to stop himself from going out with an old flame of yours named Caitlin Bree," Al explained.  
"Why?" Dante asked.  
"Because... something bad results from it," Al explained.  
"Why the fuck should that matter?" Dante asked.  
"Well, wouldn't you rather that something good happened?" Al asked.  
"Shit happens," Dante replied. "If something bad happens, it happens. I don't need some time travelling doctor to take over my body and fix it. This is one fucked up project. You people are humans. You're not Gods. You can't go around changing fate. Now give me back my fucking body and let whatever shit happens to it, happen!"  
  
Al appears back at the empty Quick Stop to talk to Sam.  
"Anything?" Sam asked.  
"Well, Dante just brought something to my attention, and I think you might want to hear it, too," Al said. "We're just human beings. Why should we go around changing everyone's fates? It's like playing God."  
"That's great and all, but I've got to get out of this body somehow," Sam said.  
"I guess you've got a point there..." Al said. But suddenly, the leaping sensation filled over Sam again. He tried to talk to Al through it.  
"Why am I leaping?" Sam asked. Al stayed with him as he leaped, going through the time barrier.  
"I don't know," Al said. "It says here that Dante still breaks up with Veronica, but Randal gets out of jail when Dante bails him out. Even though he never gets married, he still has his best friend."  
"So, what made me leap, was realizing that I shouldn't be leaping?" Sam asked.  
"I sure as hell don't know," Al said.  
  
Suddenly, Sam was in a body once again. He was at some sort of strip joint. He looked above him to see a gang standing in front of a guy with long blonde hair.  
"You think every white boy cowers at your ass? Shit, if I don't fucking plant you - watermelon - my muscle here will," he said, pointing at Sam. "What do you think he is? My boy friend? I love chicks. So he's gotta be with me for one reason: to watch my back. Silent Bob doesn't talk in words - he speaks in bullets. He's all quiet cause he's thinking about how he's gonna take you and your bitches out quick enough to piss on the bullets in your bodies before they cool down. You know why? Because he likes to see the hot steam coming off them when he sprays them down. Come to think of it, I'm tired of talking to your dumb ass; you probably don't even understand big words like 'piss'. Tell you what - I'll let him explain it to you. Silent Bob - shoot these punk-monkey bitches."  
"Oh boy..." said Sam.  



End file.
